Hexagram 18 - Unchanged

[Flor Almeida]

Hi,

I have an hospitality business and at the moment we are having a really hard time finding chefs, due to new places opening and shortages on the industry brought by Covid 19.

Other places have poached our staff because they have been with us for a while and perhaps wants change.

We had problems in the past with people that worked for us talking bad about us once we had to dismiss one staff, than a whole group left, which was really good for us as the work become once again inspired instead of very poisoning.

I wonder if the corruption means is still people that work with us holding us back, or our own culture whiting the restaurant that has to change.

I would appreciate any insight .

 

[kestrelw1ngs]

18 for me has usually meant corruption within, I would examine the culture at your restaurant!

Perhaps it would be worthwhile to have a spirit of inquiry as to why previous employees felt unhappy or talked bad. It would be unpleasant to listen to the rumors but 18 uc seems to suggest looking at "what has been spoiled"

A bit of a funny resonance as it could even speak to spoiled food, maybe food spoiled by a rotten attitude

(Not to make light of your difficulty)

 

[rosada]

Not sure what your question is. Were you asking, "Why such a big staff turnover?" or "What should I look for in hiring a new chef?" or what?
Anyway, 18. Work On What Has been Spoiled seems to promise there are things you can do to improve the situation, particularly the Image seems to suggest rousing your staff to help. Maybe post a reward ("Gourmet Dinner for Two!") for whoever recommends the next chef?

 

[Flor Almeida]

Wow kestrelw1ngs and rosada,

Thanks for the response, very helpful!

It has been a big staff turnover, which is normal in the industry, apprentices that finishes they apprenticeship and are not sure if they really want to be a chef, people that has been with us for 2 years and want a change.

As it is hard to admit, in the past people has left us, because we've started in the business with some clue of what we were doing and eventually we just wanted to learn and get everything better and change bad habits within. We have achieved that to some extend, and do that on a week basis, but still a lot of room for improvement.

Thanks for the advice, really appreciate, I think we might need to have an inquiry spirit to understand what we cannot see.

Thanks again

 

[dfreed]

One name for Hex. 18 is 'mildew'. It suggests things (opportunities and options) 'getting stuck' - as trigram (three-line figure) Wind is 'stuck' within trigram Mountain, which we find with Hex. 18.

Despite its ill-sounding name, the text of 18 reads, 'Supreme offering. Favourable for fording a big river, three days before ... and three days after ....'

So, one 'journey' you might take is to go from external solutions to internal ones: much of this 'mildew' (gossip, actions of ex-employees, etc.) belongs to others, so what if you instead 'look within' - perhaps to work with your current staff?

For example, maybe see if there are any of your current staff whom you could train to be chefs; or perhaps talk with them to see if they can help you recruit new staff (having staff whom like working for you may be a good way to recruit more staff whom will like working for you); and perhaps look for ways - even small ones - that you can make them more 'content' (ex. maybe cook them a group meal every so often?).

External 'mildew' or 'decay' you may have limited control over, but I think you can work effectively within your own business. And 'three days ... and three days' suggests that it will take some time for you to see the results of your actions - after all, crossing a large river in ancient China was no small or quick task.

Best, d.